High dose vitamin E supplementation extends median and maximum lifespan in mouse study

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol ^ | 07.05.05

[Coleus]

High dose vitamin E supplementation extends median and maximum lifespan in mouse study

A report published online in the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (http://ajpregu.physiology.org/) revealed the findings of researchers from the University of Cadiz in Spain and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina that feeding mice high doses of vitamin E increased lifespan and improved neurological performance.

Professor Alberto Boveris of the University of Buenos Aires and colleagues used a senescence accelerated strain of mice whose median lifespan is 60 to 70 weeks and whose maximum lifespan is 100 to 120 weeks. (Maximum lifespan is the greatest amount of weeks, months or years a species has been observed to survive, while median lifespan is a middle value determined from the range of survival times.) Starting at 28 weeks of age, the researchers supplemented the diets of male and female mice with doses of alpha-tocopherol comparable to the 1200 to 2000 milligram doses taken without adverse effects in studies involving Alzheimer’s disease patients. A control group received diets that contained the standard amount of vitamin E.

Male mice received the greatest benefit from high dose vitamin E supplementation, with a 40 percent increase in median lifespan and a 17 percent increase in maximum lifespan. Supplemented male mice also showed greater neuromuscular performance and cognitive exploratory activity than unsupplemented mice over the course of the study, and this difference increased with age.

Female mice, whose median lifespan was improved by only 14 percent, were not tested for neurological performance. Although the female mice did not experience an increase in maximum lifespan associated with vitamin E, maximum lifespan for both supplemented and unsupplemented females was greater than that of males, which has been explained by lower mitochondrial oxidant production and the effect of estrogen on down-regulating oxidant production.

The team also found that the increased mitochondrial content of lipid and protein oxidation products in the brains and livers of older mice was partly prevented by vitamin E. Vitamin E also helped reduce the age-associated decline in mitochondrial enzymatic activity in the brain and liver.

Professor Boveris explained that the results "are in line with the free radical theory of aging put forward by Gerschman and Harman in the 1950s. Our results show a significant negative correlation between the mitochondrial content of the oxidation products of free-radical mediated reactions and mitochondrial enzymatic activities. Moreover, brain mitochondrial enzymatic activities were linearly related to mice success in the tests of neuromuscular function and of exploratory and cognitive activity and to the maximal mice life span.”

The authors conclude that further studies are needed “to suggest a threshold for the vitamin E doses that provide beneficial effects in the neurological function in aging mammals, an effect that is likely mediated by the antioxidant properties of alpha-tocopherol.”

[Coleus]

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (July 14, 2005). doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00834.2004

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	Articles by Navarro, A.
	Articles by Boveris, A.

Submitted on December 13, 2004
Accepted on July 7, 2005

Vitamin E at high doses improves survival, neurological performance and brain mitochondrial function in aging male mice

Ana Navarro^1*, Carmen Gomez¹, Maria-Jesus Sanchez-Pino¹, Hipolito Gonzalez¹, Manuel J Bandez¹, Alejandro D Boveris², and Alberto Boveris²

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of Cadiz, 11003-Cadiz, Spain
² Laboratory of Free Radical Biology, School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires, C1113AAD-Buenos Aires, Argentina

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ana.navarro@uca.es .

Male mice receiving vitamin E (5.0 g -tocopherol acetate/kg of food) from 28 wk of age showed a 40 % increased median lifespan, from 61 ± 4 wk to 85 ± 4 wk, and 17 % increased maximal lifespan, whereas female mice equally supplemented exhibited only 14 % increased median lifespan. The -tocopherol content of brain and liver was 2.5-times and 7-times increased in male mice, respectively. Vitamin E-supplemented male mice showed a better performance in the tightrope (neuromuscular function) and the T-maze (exploratory activity) tests with improvements of 9-24 % at 52 wk and of 28-45 % at 78 wk. The rates of electron transfer in brain mitochondria, determined as state 3 oxygen uptake and as NADH-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome oxidase activities, were 16-25 % and 35-38 % diminished at 52-78 wk. These losses of mitochondrial function were ameliorated by vitamin E supplementation by 37-56 % and by 60-66 % at the two considered time points. The activities of mtNOS and Mn-SOD decreased 28-67 % upon aging and these effects were partially (41-68 %) prevented by vitamin E treatment. Liver mitochondrial activities showed similar effects of aging and of vitamin E supplementation, although less marked. Brain mitochondrial enzymatic activities correlated negatively with the mitochondrial content of protein and lipid oxidation products (r² = 0.58-0.99, p < 0.01), and the rates of respiration and of complex I and IV activities correlated positively (r² = 0.74-0.80, p < 0.01) with success in the behavioral tests and with maximal lifespan.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

I will forward this info to any mice I run into!

[mmercier]

>> feeding mice high doses of vitamin E increased lifespan and improved neurological performance

Just what the world needs, a more agile rat with a longer lifespan.

[Read2Know]

I started taking E ten years ago. I can tell you my memory improved soon after I started the 400I.U. per day.
Use natural E only. Your body rejects 50% of the synthetic stuff.

d-Alpha Tocopherol = natural E
dl-Alpha Tocopherol = synthetic E

[Coleus]

I will forward this info to any mice I run into! >>

and don't forget the rats.

[Coleus]

most now recommend the natural e complex since the other forms are more active than once thought: alpha, beta, gamma and delta, and don't forget the other isomers the tocotrienols.